Magic Maps 2 4+

A GIS Bargain

For geographic data visualization, this is hard to beat at any price. At the price, it is a bargain. Magic Maps 2 offers tremendous flexibility to analyze, display, and present data. It offers much better customization than web-based platforms.

Working with shape files to build a custom map need is very simple. This provides tremendous display flexibility. I have used downloadable shape files to visually present data on city wards, school districts, state legislative districts, and congressional districts. If you can find the shape file, Magic Maps can display it.

In particular, I should highlight my experience with support from the developer. This is unmatched in my experience. I have written him with issues. He has responded within hours and a fix follows shortly thereafter. Just stunningly great support.

The One and Only.

Magic Maps 2 is an extraordinary bargain in an area where the Macintosh OS is woefully difficient. That is in the area of mapping, cartography, Geographic Information Systems, and displaying spatial distributions. Whether the suject is a socioeconomic issue such as the distribution of wealth and poverty, regional illiteracy, or the geography of a disease, good maps showing good data are vital for sound analysis and policy.

Magic Maps 2 is an easy to use application that can display data through an area shading process, using know boundaries such as states, counties, urban placed, census tracts, and even census block groups. No other application on a Mac can do this for anything less than hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

I am impressed! I am a retired university professor who taught mapping classes for over three decades, so I think that my opinion is informed.

Map Maper 2 does not do many things, but what it does do, it does exceptionally well. If you want to create your own maps using the free boundary files created by the U.S. Census Bureau, this application is made for you. It imports many commonly used file structures and displays them flawlessly. It imports thematic (subject) data to polygons and points (such as cities) and export the finished products in a variety of common formats. Its exported pdf files can be edited in vector graphics programs such as Canvas 6 for the Mac.

The developer also offers a statistics analysis program that allows users to visualize and better understand their data before mapping it.

A great program at a great price!

Went to subscription...

Oh well, fun's over with this one. I was looking forward MM2, and would have happily paid for the upgrade, but I won't use subscription software.

Second star because it does have a generous 1 year trial. I like Miller's products, but not enough to get on the subscription treadmill for them.

Developer Response ,

Hi Gradenko, thank you for being a customer, and for taking time to register your concerns. I understand your trepidation about subscription software - I prefer owning software myself! But after several years offering perpetual licenses, I have found that it is not a sustainable business model. So the choice for me was between exiting the market or offering future updates to the software via subscription.

I have tried to offer flexible and convenient subscription terms; if you change your mind and would like to use the software just for a few months, I have set out an affordable quarterly option which you can cancel whenever you like. In the meantime, the original Magic Maps will continue to be supported on macOS 10.8 - 10.14.

In the future, I hope you will keep an open mind about supporting independent software developers who switch to subscription licensing. I believe this model will enable me, and other Mac developers in my position, to offer a steady stream of substantial updates that benefits our customers as well as the overall Mac software ecosystem.